Arnois Delande
|race= Nightborne |gender=Male |age=10,867 |height= 7'6" |weight= Slender |birthplace =Ethel Rethor, Desolace |residence=Midnight Court, Suramar City |guild=Legacy of SuramarWyrmrest Accord Arnois - WoW Armory |affiliations=Kingdom of Suramar :Nightfallen Resistance :House of Delande Kaldorei Empire |alignment= |faction=Horde |factionicon=Horde |class=Diplomat, Priest }} Arnois Delande is a shal'dorei diplomat and the Minister of the Legacy of Suramar—a bureaucratic organization that's focused on the diplomatic relations between the shal'dorei and the Horde. He is also a Shal'dorei Embassy Representative, and an Inter-cultural Conflict Mediator. Biography Early life Born in a pleasant but unimportant city in the far west of the Kaldorei Empire, Arnois Delande began his life as a Highborne of lesser nobility figuring out his way forward for himself. Initially holding an interest in the priesthood, his gender and soon-to-be revealed proclivities in areas of politics and knowledge led him to seek his vocation elsewhere. Eventually serving as representative of his native province, he came to make connections with individuals of higher authority, leading to his own upward ascent in the world of the Kaldorei Highborne. He later on traded his position in this relative backwater for a bureucratic station in the city of Suramar. On paper, it was a demotion, but in practice, any role there had a much greater influence on the empire at large. Though Highborne, he was of birth quite unlike those of the noble families who dominated the politics of Suramar City. With his own personal guile, charm, and zeal, he gradually climbed his way upwards to higher stations. Only a small amount of this progress was done, however, before Queen Azshara's pact with Sargeras threatened to undue the Kaldorei Empire as a whole. It was in this crisis that Arnois Delande, still quite young, distinguished himself through his diplomatic efforts towards other cities and enclaves of resistance. Having spent his early career in the apparatuses of the state, his ultimate loyalty was to its institutions -- not its ruler. These efforts, unfortunately, were cut short when Grand Magistrix Elisande took it upon herself to shield Suramar and cut it from the rest of the continent. Though it ended up saving the city from the Sundering, the Kaldorei Empire, which Arnois had worked so hard to save, was no more. Twilight of Suramar Arnois Delande then spent the next ten thousand years of his life in the city's most politically influential (and noble-ridden) center: the Midnight Court. Though it had surely not been what Arnois had signed up for, his future survival and prosperity depended on pleasing the whims of those much wealthier and more well-born than himself. It was difficult to be a true diplomat in a city that was all alone, and so he transformed his role into a mediator between different individuals, institutions, and of course, the noble houses. Not only did this earn him the good graces of many influential figures, it preserved the peace in a city where any serious conflict could potentially lead to terror with no escape. Though personally disdainful of the Grand Magistrix, her advisors, and her various syncophants, Arnois carefully projected the illusion of support. This was easy enough for him in the thousands of years when life under the bubble was uneventful. However, eventually things were to change. When the minions of Sargeras came to knock upon Suramar's gates, it was with every possible level of revulsion that Arnois Delande watched Elisande make her pact the Burning Legion. Any realist, he would figure, would realize the inherent incompatibities between the interests of the now Shal'dorei people and a countless demonic army set upon eradicating all life in the universe. Still, the now wizened minister bid his time, avoiding any visible break from Elisande's new, oppressive regime. This spared him from exile, and most importantly, allowed him to work in the shadows as many did in that time. Once again, Arnois Delande's primary loyalty was to the state, and so, in order to preserve it, he helped coordinate members of the growing resistance while avoiding the suspicions of many of his so-called friends and allies, many of whom were intrinsically linked to the madness that was taking hold of the city. The Nightfallen resistance When the true fight came, it seemed that there was little more for Arnois Delande to offer the resistance. He was no arcanist or great warrior, so when blades were finally drawn and spells slung, he tried his best to stay out of the way. This, however, proved not to be the case, as he was one of the Shal'dorei representatives sent to confer and coordinate with the newly emerged foreign element. This of course consisted of the Alliance, the Horde, and the various orders dedicated to stopping the Legion. The new races and organizations overwhelmed Arnois at first, but he soon developed a keen understanding of their ways, as he had with many far-flung Kaldorei back in the time of the empire. After treating with them and doing his duty, he returned to the city. Refusing to leave it until it were fully liberated, he bunked down in his old ministerial office as the crashes of battle revuberated from outside. When the dust was settled, Arnois Delande was left with the unenviable task of restoring the various political institutions that had been so throroughly torn apart by Elisande's increasingly unstable regime. The subsequent insurrection, though noble, didn't help a lot, either. After contributing to much of the groundwork in making Suramar habitable and functional again, Arnois was reconferred his position as minister, this time working as part of the Shal'dorei's delegation to the Horde. Given his own significant gap of knowledge in regards to the post-Sundering world, Arnois embarked on his own intensive study program, partly through the use of time-altering magic. This allowed him to get an excellent grasp of Orcish, and, to a lesser extent, the other Horde languages, in what was actually an incredibly short period of time. Given Suramar's long period of complete political isolation, it came to little surprise that most of the positions and offices within foreign ministry had been wholly done away with or absorbed by other bodies. Arnois Delande had himself been partly responsible for this. Now facing the gargantuan effort of integrating the Shal'dorei Horde, there was a severe lack of trained personnel to undertake the vast array of duties required of them. In his current role of minister in the Shal'dorei embassy, Arnois Delande is working on the ground to educate and resolve conflict wherever possible. At least he doesn't need to push around papers around. Physical appearance Arnois is a well-dressed gentleman given his postion as a statesman. His usual diplomatic garb consists of Shal'dorei silk robes measured to fit his slender form. The cloth itself is thin and airy, giving his skin a chance to breathe in less friendly climates. He usually favors darker colors, though he could sometimes be seen in lilac and white. Anything that clashes with the tabard of the Dusk Lily simply wasn't worn. Though he hasn't much in the way of jewerly, he still wears an assortment of rings dating back from the Kaldorei Empire. The most prominent of which marks him as the once regional governor of his old, forlorn province. Though towering above most, Arnois has mastered the posture of talking to short people without them feeling any lesser. Personality and traits Although he comes from a long-isolated culture, Arnois lacks the tendency to treat any race much differently from any other. (Spending a few centuries negotiating with smelly horse men would do that.) He takes a great interest in the affairs of other races, and would easily spend a few hours inquiring about another's culture and history. Notes and references Category:Nightborne Category:Horde Priest Category:Priest Category:Characters Category:Horde